Inspiration and the Power of Instant Feedback

I know a young writer who feels so good when he’s inspired, he can hardly write at all when he’s not. Most of us don’t have the luxury of waiting for inspiration for much of anything, but sometimes it does come.

One source of inspiration for my blog was the invitation from Talance to write a guest post. It was a good opportunity to hit the ground running, or at least jogging a little bit, plus I’m a sucker for flattery. Which recently landed me in a community theater production of Fiddler on the Roof as the Grandma Tzeitl, but that’s another story.

In an article in Productive! MagazineThe Power of Less author Leo Babauta likens blogging, posting art online, and releasing beta software to street performance. Here’s what struck me most:

If a street performer isn’t good, people won’t watch. But making a small change in the performance, like a better setup or better patter, can make huge changes in audience reaction and payment. And here’s the thing: they see the effects of those small changes immediately. There’s no wondering, “Will this work? Will it be an improvement or make things worse?” Because they know if it works, if it makes things better or worse, right away….

Whatever you want to do, if you can do something publicly, even in front of a small group, and get instant feedback, that’s pure gold. There’s no better way to improve. There’s no better way to evolve a method or creative process or business model than through this simple technique of constant iteration and natural selection….

There’s no better way to get amazing at something.

Granted, he didn’t say how long it takes to get amazing at something, but I guess that’s the fun part.